This application claims benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-135888 filed on Apr. 30, 2004, the contents of which are incorporated by the reference.
The present invention relates to weather forecast data distributing systems and methods capable of extracting weather data by using an artificial satellite and distributing weather forecast data obtained on the basis of the extracted data.
Weather forecast data distributing system by using an artificial satellite such as a typical one called “Himawari” in Japan, performs wide-area-wise weather forecast by mounting an observation sensor for observing rainy condition, cloudy condition, etc., in the artificial satellite and carrying out wide-area-wise observation.
When the system does weather forecasts in a plurality of areas, it sums up detected data from observation sensors each provided in each of a plurality of weather forecast centers each disposed in each weather forecast area, and it performs the weather forecasts.
For example, a weather forecast center measures the temperature in the pertinent area, and accumulates and manages the measured data as daily time-series data together with cloud quantity data at a pertinent time in a weather observation database. As the cloud quantity data, cloud distribution data observed by the artificial data is mainly used. As preliminary data a visual check is made as to whether cloud is found, and the result data is registered with reference to a manual.
Literature 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open 2001-324576) discloses condition forecast on the basis of a condition in a certain area and a past similar condition with the provision of a center A for forecasting a condition according to a wide-area observation network and a center B for performing wide-area condition forecasting and holding a condition database accumulated by local observations. Condition forecast results are obtained concerning a wide area including the area covered by the center B. On the basis of the similarity of the condition forecast results and past conditions in the area of the center B to one another, a past condition similar to the present condition is selected from the condition database. A present forecast value is generated from the selected past condition and subsequent condition changes.
For the weather forecast, one weather forecast image is generated from the above data. Alternatively, the weather radar images or weather satellite images are used as weather observation images. As a further alternative, use is made of image feature quantities obtained from visible images, infrared images or GPV data. As a yet further alternative, past data is retrieved as first stage candidate data, and separate kind past weather observation data of a pertinent time and data similar to the separate kind past weather observation data are selected from the retrieved past candidate data. Weather forecast data is thus generated from the selected past candidate data.
The prior art weather forecast data distributing system can perform wide-area-wise weather forecast by mounting an observation sensor for observing rain, cloud, etc., in an artificial satellite, typically one called “Himawari” for weather forecast and carrying out wide-area-wise observation by using this artificial satellite. However, the system has a drawback that it can not perform local weather forecast.
To cope with this drawback, it is necessary to install a plurality of on-earth sensors for local weather forecast in pertinent places, respectively. However, this means cost increase inclusive of management expenditures. Thus, it is extremely difficult to develop the wide area such as all areas in Japan.